Georg Wilhelm Steller, naturalist and explorer (99)

Today is the 314th birthday of the German naturalist and explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709–1746). In 1740, he joined the Second Kamchatka Expedition of Vitus Bering, a Dane in Russian service. After spending the winter exploring Kamchatka, Steller agreed to serve as scientist and  physician on Bering's voyage in search of America and the strait between the two continents. On July 20, 1741, he became one of the first non-natives to set foot on Alaskan soil when he spent ten hours on Kayak Island, where Bering had stopped to take on fresh water. (We all know where that initial encounter led, sadly... to Russian plundering of Alaskan resources.)

On that voyage, Steller described numerous new plants and animals,  including Steller's sea cow and the spectacled cormorant, both of which are today extinct, and the Steller sea lion, Steller's eider, and Steller's sea eagle, which today are endangered or in serious decline. One creature that is not in trouble is Steller's jay—whose familial identity he discerned after having seen a volume on the birds and plants of the Carolinas: this allowed him to verify that the expedition had indeed found North America. 

Here are a few of the animals that Steller discovered or that are named for him:

Steller's Eider (Polysticta stelleri)
photo by Ron Knight

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris)
photo by Marshal Hedin

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus)
photo by Michael Pinczolits

Short-tailed albatross, aka Steller's albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)
photo by James Lloyd Place

Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
photo by G. Frank Peterson

Steller's sculpin (Myoxocephalus stelleri)
illustration by Kim In Young 김인영 그림

Gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri)
photo by Jerry Kirkhart

Hoary mugwort (Artemisia stelleriana)

Stellerite crystals, a rare mineral
photo by Ivar Leidus

1898 illustration of Steller's sea cows (Hydrodamalis gigas)

Spectacled cormorant (Urile perspicillatus)
illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans

Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

Steller died in Siberia at the young age of 37 from a fever as he was making his way back to Moscow.